ORX Proceedings
Page 8
How to Defuse Disruptive Docs
Psychiatrist Kent Neff, MD, explains how to face off with a good surgeon gone bad.
Disruptive physician behavior took center stage at OR Excellence. Psychiatrist Kent Neff, MD, the nation's foremost expert on troubled surgeons, presided over an intensive 2-day "Disruptive Doctor" pre-conference workshop and then led off ORX with an engaging talk that focused on the underlying causes of disruptive behavior and practical strategies to defuse the name-calling, the scissor-throwing and the drape-ripping. "It's an ongoing problem that affects the morale, efficiency, outcomes and patient satisfaction in the OR," says Dr. Neff. "At its core, disruptive behavior is a patient safety issue. It's impossible to have a truly safe unit when disruptive, disrespectful behavior is present." As always, Dr. Neff was enlightening and empowering.
• What causes disruptive behavior? Play psychologist for a moment and consider how doctors are socialized and developed. It's not normal, says Dr. Neff. Many docs lack social skills and social maturity. "They act like teenagers, and sometimes less," he says. "That's the level of emotional development. They're made to feel entitled at an early age, then subjected to abuse in medical school as they strive to become perfectionists."
What happens then? The abused become the abusers, says Dr. Neff. The surgeon who stops in the middle of a case to lecture for 15 minutes about something that was said and he did not like. The surgeon who walks into the OR and remarks, "I see I have the crap team today." The surgeon who calls you at all hours, insisting that he do his surgery immediately even though his procedure is not
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REHAB SPECIALIST
"Love the sinner, hate the sin," says Kent Neff, MD, FAPA, a psychiatrist who specializes in treating disruptive doctors.
